Austin is the state capitol, it's less polluted, more eclectic, more live music friendly, less "fat", and has hills other than the overpasses on freeways. Houston is way bigger, there are way more freeways, and you can still smoke in a lot of restaraunts, oh and of course, professional sports outside of the Arena Football League
I lived in Houston first and everybody told me I was going to love Austin. It didn't turn out that way. I ended up spending five years in each city... and, during the years in Austin, making the drive to Houston to hang out on weekends. Austin was just too... pretentious. It thought it was so great. A lot of this just seemed like hype; the music, the restaurants, the attractions, etc. were worse than those in Houston. The traffic is more localized, but actually worse; everyone has to get over the river, which creates a bottleneck, and it just about stops on the freeways during rush hour. Stuff is a little more expensive in general (apartments come to mind). I would say no pro sports teams in Austin, except they have UT (same difference ). Most importantly, I think people are friendlier/ easier to get to know in Houston. Austin people are OK - you can hang out anywhere, I guess, but it seems like no one ever makes real friendships. People just drift in and out and come and go. If you're just looking for random people to get drunk/ stoned with and see bad music, Austin may be the place for you. Somehow, Houston is more "normal" and I like that.
Yes, I beleive Austin is severely overhyped. Especially for college kids. I dont do anything now that I did not do back home. Only plus in Austin is I dont live at home anymore.
You can easily take what you said and say that it's a great college city. The attitude is very college student-like. Superficial friendships, drifting in and out, getting wasted on top of cheap entertainment, good all night food, etc...
From my understanding, and I lived there shortly during my brief tenure at UT is that its not a bad place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. The college life is not for me. And besides I like smoking, and I don't like crystals used as deodorant.
Austin was better than Houston until the mid 1980s. When half of California moved to Austin, the city was ruined.
I love both. I hate comparing the two, but I'll do it anyway. Houston is big and has a lot of everything. Austin is smaller and its very easy to get to the places you want to go as long as you live north of the bottlenecks.
The exit from 71 West onto I35 North might be the worst highway interchange in the entire history of automobile transportation. You have to exit 71, cross three lanes of traffic, then exit AGAIN. Houston traffic may be bad, but their freeway system blows Austin's away...
Grew up in Houston, and have settled in Austin. No comparison....Austin is cleaner, healthier, and nicer than Houston. Houston is a sprawling dirty city, Austin is a metropolitan small town feeling city. Austin has very little traffic, and Houston..well...we don't need to go there. Austin is quaint, Houston is huge. Austin is safe, Houston is dangerous.... Austin in a landslide. However, I do miss the pro sports teams and the mueseums and theater. DD
Houston - more blue collar, actually working to make a living Austin - people try to make money by doing as little as possible (i.e internet start-ups and such)
I enjoy visiting and hanging out in Austin. I love playing in Austin. I hated living there. There is nothing wrong with either city and comparing them is completely and totally subjective. There are 100 reasons on either side to support the theory that one is nicer. Deciding which is best is pointless. In reality, they are both cities with good and bad. But comparing a big city to a college town is unfair to both. They both have great things to offer and difficulties to be overcome. To each his own.
I don't see how anyone can say Austin's traffic is worse than Houston's. The ONLY place that is a legit problem is 35. Mopac is only bad during rush hour and it's only for an hour to hour and a half tops. I think people from Houston that complain about Austin's traffic are just pissed because they can't drive 900mph everywhere. We may drive slower, but that's just because we don't have far to go!
